When the game shut down, I took my skills with me.

The three "divine pronouncements" were like three thunderclaps, exploding in the highest command channels of all survivor factions worldwide.

The chaos and despair that had lasted for several days seemed to have found an outlet.

We've got the direction!

"Clean up the world and eliminate noise!"

"Strengthen the foundation and cultivate vitality!"

"Seeking hope!"

These twelve characters were interpreted into thousands of action plans within just one hour and were pushed to every corner of the world with the highest execution efficiency.

The Dragon Shield fleet stopped guarding the "Ark" and turned around to actively eliminate the elemental monsters that had mutated due to the high temperature in the near sea area.

The Red Bear Force's armored torrent, braving the heat waves that could melt steel, surged out of their shelter in the Ural Mountains once more. Their target was no longer the sun in the sky, but the roaring "noise" on the ground.

The major player guilds also stopped their pointless arguments, began to tighten their defenses, frantically stockpile resources, and reinforce their fortifications.

The whole world, like a giant war machine whose start button had been pressed, roared into action with unprecedented frenzy after a brief period of silence.

Of all the actions, the most noteworthy was undoubtedly the third oracle – "Seek life."

A joint exploration fleet, comprised of the most elite players and the newest ships from the three factions of Dragon Shield, Red Bear, and Lighthouse, officially set sail three hours after the order was given.

Their goal is the southernmost point of the Earth—Antarctica.

On the fleet's flagship, the Explorer, Qin Shiyue's adjutant, Li Mo, was looking out the porthole with a solemn expression.

The sky was a dark red, scorched by eight suns.

On the sea, huge icebergs float, and the contradictory scene of ice and fire constitutes the new normal of the world.

"Report! The fleet has entered the Antarctic Circle! Environmental energy index... abnormal! The reading is dropping rapidly!"

"It's not descending! The pointers are malfunctioning! The energy field here... is completely blank!"

"All supernatural senses have failed! We...we've stumbled into a 'forbidden zone of the gods'!"

Panic-filled reports came through the command channel.

The closer you get to Antarctica, the weaker the scorching heat from those eight suns becomes, but a deeper, more primal chill begins to rise from the depths of everyone's heart.

It wasn't a cold in terms of temperature, but a kind of trembling from the depths of the soul, a feeling of absolute suppression of one's life level.

"Activate the deepest geological scan! I want to know what's down there!" Li Mo made a decisive decision.

A high-energy particle beam penetrated beneath the thick Antarctic ice sheet.

The next second, a scene that everyone will never forget slowly appeared on the scanning screen.

It was a snake.

A colossal serpent, beyond description and defying any unit of measurement, coiled beneath the ice sheet of the entire Antarctic continent.

Its body, merely curled up, almost perfectly overlaps the map of the entire Antarctic continent. Its scales are more majestic than mountains, and its head is larger than a city.

It is asleep.

With each breath, the ice sheets of the entire continent trembled slightly and rhythmically.

"My God..." The flagship's captain, a battle-hardened level 80 paladin player, looked at the screen and his legs went weak, causing him to collapse to the ground.

Is this the truth behind the claim that "the south side looks quite cool"?

Is this the true goal of "seeking life"?

Just as everyone was stunned by this unimaginable discovery, a strange change occurred.

Perhaps it was the fleet's scan that disturbed it, or perhaps the continuous scorching of the eight suns made its slumber no longer peaceful.

The enormous head twitched slightly.

Immediately afterwards, an indescribable, vast and ancient thought swept across the entire fleet like a tsunami.

"……hot……"

There was no sound, no language, but the idea appeared clearly in everyone's mind.

"Splash! Splash!"

More than half of the ordinary crew members and low-level players in the fleet were brain dead instantly, their eyes rolling back and foaming at the mouth, before they could even scream, under the impact of this mental force.

Even a powerful figure like Li Mo felt as if his soul was being gripped by an invisible hand, almost crushed.

"Quick! Report to Fang Zhou! Report to Director Qin!" He shouted his last words with all his might before fainting.

……

"Ark" Command Center.

Qin Shiyue looked at the last images transmitted from the front lines, and at that simple yet terrifying thought: "Heat".

His body was trembling uncontrollably.

But it wasn't fear; it was an excitement mixed with ecstasy and sudden realization.

"I understand... I completely understand!" He slammed his hand on the table, his eyes flashing with a terrifying light.

"When the gentleman said, 'It looks quite cool to the south,' he wasn't referring to a geographical phenomenon! He was telling us that there's a great entity in the south that feels 'hot' and needs us to 'cool it down'!"

"Seeking vitality! What we seek is not our own vitality, but the vitality of this world!"

"Purifying the world and eliminating noise, strengthening the foundation and cultivating vitality, seeking a way out... these three divine pronouncements are interconnected and progressively build upon each other! The Master wants us to first stabilize our position, then gather our strength, and ultimately... save this ancient god who sleeps in Antarctica!"

Upon hearing this interpretation, all the surviving high-ranking officers in the command center gasped in shock.

They looked at Qin Shiyue as if he were a madman, but more than that, they were stunned by the unimaginable "truth," leaving their minds blank.

It turns out that they were standing on the fifth floor from the very beginning.

And the administrator is standing in the clouds.

"I must... go see the master immediately!" With a pilgrimage-like devotion, Qin Shiyue rushed out of the command center once again.

Inside the villa.

Lu Yuan was sighing over the ending of an old movie when he casually tossed a bag of potato chips to Fatty Wang next to him.

"Sir, Qin Shiyue requests an audience. He... he seems very excited." Xiaoya's projection appeared, her tone carrying a hint of confusion as if the data couldn't be analyzed.

"Not again?" Lu Yuan sighed. "Let him in."

Qin Shiyue practically burst in, and in an incredibly enthusiastic tone, he recounted his discovery in Antarctica and his "latest insights" in detail.

Lu Yuan was stunned.

Is there a giant snake beneath Antarctica? Feeling hot? And it's even echoing my own complaints?

He rubbed his temples, feeling that this was getting more and more outrageous.

"Xiaoya, adjust the underlying data of Antarctica."

"Yes, sir."

A three-dimensional image appeared before Lu Yuan; it was the sleeping giant snake.

Xiaoya explained in her usual calm tone: "Sir, an inactive sample of the ancient data entity 'World Throat Jormungandr' has been detected. This unit is an abandoned world boss from the 0.1 Beta version of 'Gods and Demons Era'. Because the data was not completely erased, it assimilated with the Antarctic ice sheet and entered a dormant state after the Gaia Mask materialized."

"Currently, the environmental warming caused by the 'Ten-Day Trial' is disrupting its data stability structure. It is expected that the unit will completely dissipate due to the collapse of the data link within 72 hours, triggering a massive data pollution event."

Lu Yuan looked at the large snake and scratched his head.

"Oh, so it's this deleted test sample. I was wondering why the world's energy cycle seemed a bit unbalanced; it turns out it's dissipating heat."

He stood up and stretched.

"If it crashes, the data corruption will be a big problem, and cleaning it up will be a lot of work."

Lu Yuan turned around and called out to the kitchen.

"Fatty, get me a bottle of iced cola."

Fatty Wang jogged over and handed it to him.

Lu Yuan took it and walked towards the door.

"I'm going out to fix a bug, I'll be right back."

After saying that, he disappeared through the doorway.